North Meets South
by ayziks
Summary: In Season 1 of ATLA. Pakku discovers Katara is the granddaughter of the woman he was supposed to marry – Kanna, Katara's paternal grandmother. After the siege of the North, Pakku and others decide to help restore the Southern Water Tribe, but he has important business to resolve with Kanna while he's there. ATLA characters property of Nickelodeon.
1. Chapter 1 - Rough Waters

**Title:** "North Meets South"

**Author:** ayziks

**Word count:** 6300

**Rating:** T – Pakku and Kanna reconciliation

**Summary:** in the first season of ATLA, an angry Katara battles Master Pakku for the right to continue Aang's water bending training and for the right to be trained herself. Pakku discovers Katara is the granddaughter of the woman he was supposed to marry – Kanna, Katara's paternal grandmother. After the siege of the North, Pakku and others decide to help restore the Southern Water Tribe, but he has another important goal while he's there. Three chapter arc.

**Chapter 1: Rough Waters**

Sailing on a majestic Northern Water tribe ship, Aang, Katara, and Sokka were summoned to the main deck by water bending Master Pakku, early in the morning prior to their departure to start Aang's earth bending training. They had not expected a big send-off.

Pakku cleared his throat, and spoke very seriously, "Katara, I want you to have this."

He held up a vial, conical in shape, with a blue, wave-shaped design cut into it, and topped by a crescent moon screw-on top. It could be held – or worn - by a leather thong, and had a small ribbon attached to the bottom of the vial.

He continued his explanation, "This amulet contains water from the Spirit Oasis. Don't lose it."

Katara replied respectfully, "Thank you, Master Pakku."

She hugged him and stepped aside. Aang stepped forward, and Master Pakku extended to him an exquisitely engraved dark wooden box.

Master Pakku explained,** "**Aang, these scrolls will help you master water bending, but remember they're no substitute for a real Master."

Aang accepted the box, acknowledged Master Pakku's generosity, and looked up at a very pleased Katara, his brand new water bending sifu, seated on top of Appa. Finally, Sokka stepped forward.

Master Pakku hesitantly said,** "**Sokka... Take care, son."

A proud and expectant Sokka became instantly dejected and embarrassed, and stepped back.

Master Pakku gave his final instructions to the young trio,** "**Fly straight to the Earth Kingdom base to the east of here. General Fong will provide you with an escort to Omashu. There you'll be safe to begin your earth bending training with King Bumi.

Aang acknowledged Master Pakku's instructions, and departed by flipping the reins on his sky bison companion, and ordered, "Appa, yip yip!"

Katara called back to Pakku as they flew away from the small fleet headed south: "Say hi to Gran Gran for me!"

Pakku thought as he waved them a farewell, _"I will, Katara, I will. If only she would speak to me again."_

The journey to the Southern Water Tribe by boat took weeks, and was not without its dangers, both natural and manmade.

The small group of ships was tossed about by a freak storm, and it was everything Pakku could do to calm the waves to a lesser sea state so that the ships would survive the seemingly relentless wind and waves. As it was, all the crews were still overcome with seasickness, and a huge gust of wind nearly snapped the mainmast on the lead ship, not to mention that the storm ripped the sails due to wind stress on them. It was fortunate they only grazed the edge of the giant storm, so it was less intense and didn't last long.

What he could not do anything about by water bending was being intercepted on the high seas by a Fire Nation destroyer. They were boarded and searched.

The ship's Captain grilled him sternly, "What is your business on the high seas, water tribe? Aren't you a little far from home?"

Pakku said cheerfully in a convincing lie, "Just making a living, Captain. We'll do some trade with the Kyoshi Islanders, and if we are lucky, sir, perhaps we can help the Whale Tail Island Fire Nation outpost with a few supplies."

"May the wind be always at your back, then, water tribe," smiled the Captain as he let them go, coercing from them a small, illegal 'tax' of salt-cured, nutrient rich whale-shark blubber to allow them to be safely on their way.

It was fortunate that the Captain had been out of touch with Fleet Headquarters and knew nothing of the Fire Nation's disastrous siege of the Northern Water Tribe. Had he known, Pakku and the rest of the tiny fleet would have been sent to the bottom of the ocean with all hands strapped to the masts and railings. Pakku knew that. The crews were on edge, and were grateful to their steady-handed and fast-talking leader.

While the storm and the Fire Nation posed grave dangers, the greatest danger ahead was facing the wrath of a woman he thought he knew, but ended up finding out he never really did, thanks to his stubbornness and presumption. Ironically, it was his same stubbornness that infuriated the second generation beyond Kanna – Katara - who inherited the same intolerance to unfair situations as her grandmother. He shook his head at how long it took for him to finally realize it had always been him, not her, who had been wrong.

It was amazing how much Katara resembled Kanna, down to nearly every last detail. Even her hair loopies. He was amazed that he didn't see that family resemblance immediately. He chocked it up to the forgetfulness that comes with old age. His painful memories flooded back only when he knocked off the very betrothal necklace from Katara's neck that he made for Kanna in that needless battle with her grandchild.

That meant of course, that when Kanna left, she had found someone else, married, and had children. That was another complication – was she still happily married? Would his appearance to her and her husband make things even more awkward? Pakku had not dared ask Katara. He didn't want to know. He had to see her one more time no matter what. And he wanted to at least pretend his primary purpose in being there was to help rebuild the Southern Water Tribe and infuse and train new water benders into the tribe.

Even if he never spoke to Kanna again, by committing to help the Southerners, he felt that would somehow atone for estranging the one love in his life. Having lost her, it had made him bitter and lonely for a lifetime - because of his own bullheadedness. That attitude caused him to spurn all other women, and to be the best – but the most unforgiving and intolerant of all water bending Masters - to his pupils.

His family never forgave him for not continuing the male bloodline, even though his sister had many children. Nor did Kanna's mother forgive her. Without the marriage and her disappearance without marrying another, her once-honored family disappeared. There were consequences to Kanna and Pakku's failure to adhere to tradition, and in the eyes of their society, neither were without fault.

Pakku had rationalized at the time that Kanna was irreplaceable, and he didn't want to sacrifice his heart again, only to be burned by another – lesser - choice. He smiled to himself, having seen the same kind of dedication he had wanted to give Kanna in the way the Avatar devoted himself to Katara and how she responded to him. There was something about the women of that family that stole mens' hearts. But Aang and Katara were different from Kanna and him. He saw that they already shared a deep commitment to each other. They may have only considered it 'friendship' at their young age, but it was so obvious that the attraction was there for each other, even if the pair didn't see it themselves. He sighed when he realized they chose each other, and were not forced to choose. He wracked his mind knowing this had been his fatal error in judgment by blindly following the old ways, expecting the result to turn out the way he willed it.

The trip south became agonizing. What would he say? What would he do? He mulled a million scenarios in his head of what to say to Kanna, and how to react. Few of them had good outcomes.

Pakku even worried about his most recent events and the effect it might have on his 'reunion' with Kanna. That he made Katara a Master had nothing to do with ingratiating himself to Kanna. Katara earned becoming a Master. He would tell her so, if he could only get to tell her the news. In like fashion, Kanna earned her freedom by defying all those who would deny it too her – her mother and father and his mother and father, and he himself.

The final danger waiting on the shores of the Southern Water Tribe was that her departure from the tribe, joining with the southern exodus of the 'others' from the Northern Water Tribe, was not a happy one. Weapons had been drawn on both sides, but never blooded.

It was a repeat of a lesson from the history of the Northern Water Tribe of long ago – a period of intense civil divisiveness - that led to the establishment of the Southern Water Tribe centuries before, and for the very same reasons.

The faction of the North who called themselves "Separatists" in Pakku's youth was tired of the stratification of society of the North, much like another, much larger, group long before. Tensions had been growing a long time. They wanted a simpler life, without the titles and royalty. Life was hard enough in the polar regions without constantly worrying about doing the socially wrong thing that would get you jailed, exiled, or executed. To the Separatists, those who would dictate who a person could or could not love and live a lifetime with was insanity. As was fighting with the Fire Nation constantly. Escaping the North to create a new, simpler life for themselves, joining and mingling with the like-minded Southern Water Tribe in the desolate and isolated South Pole – seemingly far from the ravages of the War – was their goal.

And as the only son of a Great House, Pakku epitomized all that was wrong with the North forcing people to always adhere to the old ways and the protocols. No wonder Kanna despised him. No wonder she left.

And so as a result, he stood alone with only his pride and tradition for six decades.

Finally it was time to stop thinking and start doing.

The shoreline of last known location of the Separatists who had joined and mixed with the war-ravaged tiny enclaves of the remaining Southern Water Tribe clans was in sight, and they headed for the meager mooring posts. The main dock appeared to have been demolished by the Fire Nation. Their approach attracted a party of old people, mothers, and children, but they were still armed, and watched the Northerners warily, without a cheerful greeting.

_"Where were all the men?"_ he wondered.

He and a few of his assistants exited the boat, bowed, and spoke to the wary 'welcoming party', "Good day. We are from the Northern Water Tribe."

"We know who you are," a middle-aged woman said angrily, holding a vicious-looking shark-whale grapple.

Ignoring the icy cold greeting, Pakku asked, "We'd like to meet with your Chief."

The woman replied, "He is away with the men, fighting the Fire Nation. You will have to talk to our elders, _Northerners."_

She spat the term 'Northerners."

"That would be fine," Pakku said emotionlessly. He would not be the first to provoke a fight.

They entered the inner battlement of the tribe. Their encampment was pitifully small. There appeared to be far fewer tribesmen than had left the North sixty years ago. The environment, but more likely the war, had not been kind to the Separatists. People looked at them curiously, some disdainfully.

A cluster of old men and women gathered by a dwelling. Pakku scanned all the elderly faces. Not one resembled Kanna, and there was not an ounce of recognition in these people of him.

"Which one of you is the leader?" he inquired.

"None of us. Go in there," ordered a grizzled old man with one leg.

He pulled back a skin covering the opening. He ducked under the low opening, and entered into the main part of the dwelling, and raised himself up.

Kanna and Pakku stood face to face for the first time in sixty years.


	2. Chapter 2 - Exodus

**Chapter 2: Exodus**

_…Six Decades Ago…_

The formal engagement party approached. A very nervous 17 year old Pakku led the procession of a dozen men, all brothers or cousins or uncles of the young man, and was encouraged by his father to proceed. Symbolic of their House's high stature in the Northern Water Tribe, they wore long deep blue robes of finest whale-shark skin and polar hare-otter fur. He carried a seal-turtle scale-covered and narwhal-tiger ivory box, a family tradition.

The receiving party, with an even more nervous 16 year old young girl, stood in front of their Spartan residence. Six women flanked the girl: her mother, and her aunts. Kanna was from one of the lesser Houses, and the arranged marriage was vital to the survival of that once great family. She was an only child, and a girl besides. Union between their House and the Great House of Pakku's father would assure its continuation.

Pakku bowed before Kanna, and introduced himself, "Kanna, I am Pakku. I am pleased to meet you and your family."

"Welcome Pakku, and honored family, to my home," she said by the rote response of the betrothal ceremony.

Kanna had not the slightest affection for the boy she was speaking to for the first time, though she had noted his silent attention to her from afar for months, though.

"It is the tradition of our tribe and my family that at this time in every young man's life, to join with another. You are my chosen, by agreement between our families."

"I understand," replied Kanna.

The correct response by Kanna should have been: 'It is a great honor to become your chosen.' The adults chafed.

Nonetheless, Pakku presented the box formally before Kanna, opened it, and pulled out a betrothal necklace.

"It is beautiful," she observed, and was being truthful. Pakku had done exquisite work.

"Please accept my offer to marry you and that our union will be blessed for all time," he repeated the required phrase, but put everything into it he could.

Her eyes got big around, not in happiness, but in trepidation. She shuddered.

As he went forward to put it on her, she stiffened, turned, and ran away crying. He started after her, but his father stopped him. A boy could not chase after a girl who refused him. It just wasn't done in their society. There were other ways to make her accept. Pakku was crestfallen. The pretty girl he had admired for so long ran away from him.

The adults stared at each other awkwardly, and Pakku's father's eyes narrowed at Kanna's mother.

Kanna's mother thought quickly, and lied to keep some honor and some hope alive, "I am sorry, Pakku, but Kanna hasn't been feeling well lately. I think she's a little overly excited right now. Please, come see her again later."

…..

Under a secluded ice bridge at the edge of the Northern Water Tribe capital, two young people spoke to one another seriously and in secrecy. This kind of open contact between unaccompanied and marriageable single youths, especially those who would be married who were nobles of the Great Houses, was forbidden. But it wasn't the first time over months that Pakku had defied his parents to see her, and tried to get her to accept him and his proposal. He was encouraged that she would agree to the clandestine meetings. Punishment was fierce for those young couples discovered meeting in this manner, especially after a refusal to marry.

Pakku asked desperately, "The fact is I really do love you, Kanna. I have admired you since from afar for some time. We just couldn't speak, even though I wanted to, because I was a different class. That is the rule. Relations are made, not just allowed to happen."

"I wish I could love you the way you do, Pakku, but I can't."

"Is your heart with another, Kanna? He could challenge me, I would let him win, and then it would be all right for you to go to him."

"No. I have no other. But thank you for that offer."

"Then why can't you marry me?" he puzzled.

"Because I want to love you because I do truly love you, not because you or someone else told me I have to love you. You are a nice boy, and someday you will find another will obey your family's commands to marry you," Kanna stated, trying to say no to Pakku and not be harsh or hurtful.

He finally became angry, "But you can't turn me down. It is against tradition. It has been arranged. If you turn me down, there will not be another for you."

He hesitated at the next line but he said it anyway in his final desperation to be with her, "Your family will be disgraced if you don't marry me."

She bristled, and snapped angrily, "Then I will pay the price for that refusal, Pakku, not my family. I am leaving with the Separatists. It will be as good as banishment, which I know is the price for denying a suitor. Especially one of your family's stature."

Pakku couldn't believe what he was hearing, "But the Separatists are all about chaos and anarchy. You cannot run a society that way. Just look at the Southern Tribe. They have barely survived, believing exactly the same thing."

Kanna stood her ground, "But they have survived, Pakku. Like the South, the Separatists all believe that anyone with the best hearts and interests of the people can and will rise to serve and lead. Being born to rule others by force is not the way. Your heart and mind – not rules - wills you where you must be and must go. And the spirits will guide you on your path in life. That's all there is to it, Pakku. Not a divine birthright for you upper class."

Pakku scoffed, "Surely you don't believe any of that bunk? People need a tradition of rules and rulers, order, and tradition. And a ruling class to be in charge. If any person can lead at any time, there is no history, no order to things, and no plan for the future. Breaking that rule leads to ruin and the end of society. That is the way of our world. The Separatists are crazy, Kanna."

He regretted saying that the instant his words left his lips.

"I am a Separatist, too, Pakku. Am I insane - the very one you have been told to marry?" she accused.

"Um, no, Kanna. Not you. You are different from them," Pakku tried vainly to recover his harsh statements.

"I am no different from them. When you love people more than order and rules, Pakku, then you will be ready for real love."

She offered the betrothal necklace back to Pakku. He was decimated, but willed back the tears.

"No, Kanna. You keep it. I made that for you. And only for you. I can make another," Pakku said with his heartbreak masked.

It was done. It was over.

"Very well. Goodbye, Pakku."

She put the betrothal necklace in her pocket, bowed and abruptly left.

His heart was crushed, and wanted to run after her. But tradition prevailed in him, the most prominent House of all the Northern Water Tribe, second in line only to the chieftains themselves, serving the nobility for centuries as the House of the best water bending Masters. He vowed to not be the first to break that tradition, causing great shame to his family over a mere girl, even if it was Kanna. Any of the other girls in the tribe would be glad to have him, even if she didn't. Or so he bragged to himself.

He vowed he would find another, even when his own heart rebelled against that thought.

….

A few days later, on the day the surprisingly large fleet of Separatists departed by boat from the North for a new home and life to join with the Southern Water Tribe, he watched from the frozen balcony of his home, searching for Kanna in the crowd.

She boarded the exodus ship with her best friend Hama. She noticed her look back for the boy she spurned, and her now-estranged family.

Hama tried to cheer her friend by encouraging her,"You should be happy, Kanna, we are free now, and we are together as best friends on a new adventure. An adventure we will make for ourselves. Not because anyone else ordered us to."

Kanna replied, still unsure of the decision which would affect her for a lifetime, "I know, Hama. It's just…", and she looked back at Pakku's home, and she saw him alone on the balcony. His eyes met hers, but she averted them quickly with no acknowledgement, and that was the last they saw of each other.

A single tear dropped from Pakku's eyes, and hit the frozen balcony, and turned instantly to ice, and so did his love for Kanna. Or any other.


	3. Chapter 3 - Broken Ice

**Chapter 3: Broken Ice**

...Present Day…

"Kanna…" Pakku said unsteadily.

"Pakku…" Kanna said stiffly.

He bowed politely nonetheless.

She asked coldly, "Why are you here?"

"We have heard that there has been much harm done to your tribe. We are here to help you rebuild the Southern Water Tribe, and to provide water bending and training for those who might still have the gift. Many have come to live here, and become Southerners. There has been much change in the North, Kanna."

"We don't need the North's help," she stated flatly.

"But we heard…" explained Pakku.

"You heard _wrong!"_ she snapped, and was about to dismiss him from her quarters forcibly as her aides surrounded him.

Pakku knew the only chance he had to right the wrongs was only seconds away from ending, so he blurted, "But Kanna, before she left, Katara told me…."

She interrupted Pakku and her eyes grew wide and softened, "Katara? What about Katara?"

Her knees grew weak, and with help from aides who had entered to remove Pakku, she sat on the skins. She dismissed them. Pakku remained standing, in respect to her tribal leadership role. He had not been invited to sit.

Pakku gathered himself and said, "Yes, Katara. She and the Avatar and her brother made it to the North."

"My grandchildren made it that far already? There were many dangers between here and there. Are they all right?"

"Yes they did. And they are fine. You raised them well."

She appreciated the genuine compliment, and asked, "What of Katara? Tell me of her."

"She has great water bending talent. And I think she has special feelings for the Avatar. And he for her," noted Pakku gently.

"Pakku, I knew all of that when they left. What more? Please sit beside me," Kanna invited.

Pakku was delighted to sit next to her and told her the tale, "Well, they came to us a few months ago. The Avatar needed to be trained in the ways of water bending as…tradition…dictates. He needed a Master. He is so young. They charmed Chief Arnook, the Chief's daughter Yue, and many others, but for one stubborn trait. Katara fancied herself a water bender. She sought a Master as well."

"Oh dear," fretted Kanna, knowing what that meant, "So what did the Master do?"

"Kanna, I was the water bending Master for the entire tribe. And I, like all the Masters before me, educated her on women's place in society, and sent her to learn the way of healing. With Yugoda and the younger girls."

"Yugoda…" she repeated. She hadn't heard the name of her other close friend in decades.

"So, she learned healing, but that was not enough for Katara. She still wanted to be trained as a water bender. As tradition requires, I refused. But the Avatar firmly supported her teaching. He taught her what I taught him. He dishonored me by doing that, so I stopped his lessons. She challenged me to force me to keep teaching him. And her."

Kanna thought to herself _"Good for them",_ but said aloud with a knowing smile, "She challenges a lot of things. There is much spirit in that girl."

"Like someone else I once knew," observed Pakku kindly and they actually smiled at each other.

"So, who won?" teased Kanna in the cordiality that now existed between them.

Pakku, cleared his throat, but rather than snap back at her, his tone softened further, "Well I won the challenge. But she actually won the battle. She… changed my mind."

Kanna was shocked at his admission, "Oh? How could my headstrong granddaughter change your mind when I could not?"

"I saw the betrothal necklace. The one I gave you. Then I knew. I should have known though. She's very beautiful. She looks just like you."

"Oh. Umm. Thank you, but I'm just an old woman now," she scoffed.

"You will always be 16 to me, Kanna," Pakku said with feeling.

She heard Pakku's sincerity and blushed.

It was now or never. Pakku confessed to his long-lost love, "Look, Kanna, I made a terrible, awful mistake. It cost me my friends, it cost me my family, and it cost me you. I don't want to make the same mistake twice. I have come to tell you I am sorry. Truly sorry."

"You came all this way just to apologize?" she was incredulous. Pakku was indeed a different man.

"Yes. But I also came to say something more important."

"What is that, Pakku?" she barely whispered in anticipation of what he could possibly tell her.

He cast his eyes to the floor for a moment, took a deep breath, and then looked straight at her, "I was looking for a fresh start with you."

"I think you just made one," she smiled kindly, "Stay awhile, Pakku. Have some tea with me, and tell me all about them. Especially Sokka."

He rolled his eyes, but tried to say politely, "Sokka is… unique."

"That he is, Pakku. And I wouldn't have it any other way," they laughed together.

….

And so began weeks that extended into months during which they engaged in many conversations, teas, meals, and contented evenings together after each day's work to help restore the village. The commitment and sincerity of all the Northerners helped gain the respect of their once-estranged brothers and sisters of the South, and together, the village began to recover. Pakku and Kanna's slow strolls over the months became longer and longer, and one day, Pakku let his gloved hand brush up against Kanna's. She took it, removed their gloves, and interlaced fingers. He was thrilled.

They broached a subject never asked until now, "Did you leave someone behind, Pakku?"

"No, Kanna."

"All these years, you didn't find another?" she felt lonely for him and even sadder about leaving him.

"Others tried, and even my parents tried to meddle in matchmaking again, but I refused them all. That did not go over well."

"I can imagine," she noted.

"None of them were like you. You made quite a permanent impression on me. I threw myself into water bending and nothing else mattered after that," Pakku explained.

She blushed and squeezed his hand, realizing that her refusal to marry him, and the choice he made to not marry another because of her, had kept him lonely his entire life. Maybe she had been too harsh on him. She felt sad that her own choice to deny him had cost him so much.

"I am so sorry, Pakku. I…I did marry," Kanna stuttered.

"Yes… I know. I am happy for you," replied Pakku sincerely.

"But it took me nearly three decades for someone to find me, Pakku. I dedicated myself to building this tribe, and to forget about you - which was very hard, by the way - and to supporting the chiefs that rose from within. The experience with you made me not think of marriage again. But there was one who was charming, and insistent. He was a good man. It was a good 'arrangement'. He was a great hunter, and he gave me two fine children. Hakoda – the current Chief - and his younger brother, Turok. My husband was kind to them, too."

She looked up at him, squeezed his hand, and noted, "I'm not sure you could have ever called it true love though. You had your effect on me, Pakku. I rejected everything that your family and the North stood for. But I never forgot the nice, handsome young man - who tried so hard to have tradition and me at the same time - that I lost when I left you at that bridge."

With glistening eyes she continued, "Despite your stubbornness, in those secret rendezvous together, I came to realize what you felt for me over the years, even though I couldn't at the time return it. You risked everything to be with me. I am afraid I was stubborn too, in my own beliefs. I wouldn't give up my beliefs no matter what."

"We are both guilty of that. So what happened to your husband, Kanna?" he asked carefully.

"We'd only be married six years when I lost him and Turok in another senseless Fire Nation raid. That was the most terrible days of my life. The day I lost them... " she paused, with a lump in her throat.

She swallowed hard, and continued, "I couldn't handle their loss, and so I've remained single since. I raised Hakoda, saw him rise to leadership, cried happily when he married, grieved terribly for his sweet wife when she died at the hands of the Fire Nation protecting Katara's secret water bending from them, and I have helped raise their children since. So here I am, helping all the children of the tribe, and as the oldest, leading them while Hakoda is gone with the other men. They have been gone three years. I despair of seeing any of them again," she said despondently, with a tear in her eye.

"I'm so sorry. So much sorrow and loneliness for you, all because of my inflexibility."

"That's all past now, Pakku," she encouraged, tightening her grip on his hand.

With that leading remark, Pakku dared to say what he felt, at the risk of what she might still not feel, and took both her hands into his. She did not pull back.

His voice quivered as he said the words six decades later than what he had wanted, "What matters is that I have you now, Kanna."

"Yes, Pakku. I am yours."

They smiled broadly, turned and kissed, hugging for what felt like an eternity, feeling the weight of the decades apart melt away in one embrace.


	4. Chapter 4 - What Was Lost is Found

**Chapter 4: What Was Lost Is Found **

Over the next few weeks, Pakku shared more of his stories of Aang, Katara, and Sokka's visit and their fearlessness in the siege of the North. She was proud of her grandchildren. She cried hearing of Sokka's brief love of Yue, and the terrible sacrifice she made to restore the moon and the world.

During a quiet dinner, Pakku asked a hard question, "Kanna, how did Katara receive your betrothal necklace? If it hurts too much, you don't have to say."

Kanna looked down sadly, "It's OK, Pakku. You need to know. I have to admit, Pakku, that I wore your necklace most of my life. In my youthful vanity, there was part of me that thought you might forsake everything and come to me."

Pakku responded quickly, "I considered it, Kanna. But there were so many Fire Nation raids. It was not safe to leave the capital. And I had my duty to train the defenders. And then it seemed too late."

They smiled each other for a lingering moment, and touched hands, knowing the truth.

Her eyes glistened, "I understand. But thank you for sharing that, Pakku. When it was clear you wouldn't ever come, I still couldn't part with it, and put it away as a keepsake. Of course I never wore it the short time I was married. When Hakoda and Kya wed, I gave it to him to give to her. We had nothing, and it was all I had of value to bless their marriage."

The next part was hard to say, "And on the day she was murdered protecting Katara, her father gave it to her as a remembrance of her always. I don't think she's ever taken it off."

In a soft, caring voice, Pakku whispered, "If you couldn't wear it, I can think of no one better than Katara to have it, Kanna."

Pakku just hugged her as she cried in his arms for the pent up hurt that was still there for so much that was lost in her life, and knew he had to do what his heart had been telling him for weeks to do.

….

One moonlit night, knowing now it was Princess Yue smiling down on them, he held her by her waist, looking across the bay, and watched the shark-whales sound in the sacred calving bay.

He held out to her a small polar chipmunk-hare skin wrapped with a leather thong.

"For me?" she beamed at him.

"A little something for three months together," he mused.

She opened it and tears flowed freely. It was another exquisitely made betrothal necklace, a twin of the original he had tried to give her. Pakku held his breath. The events of sixty years ago were still fresh in his mind.

She smiled broadly, took it, held it up before him, admired it, and said, "It's beautiful Pakku. I accept! Now, help me put this on, please."

He did, but not before they embraced in a deep hug and a kiss.

With the new betrothal necklace firmly around her neck, her eyes gleamed as she asked, "So what's stopping us? Let's get married tonight."

Pakku was pleasantly surprised, "Uh… well… nothing. But I figured you might want to plan for something special."

"I _have_ something special," poking him on his nose.

"Oh," he blushed.

They walked swiftly hand-in-hand to the shaman's hut, and awakened him. At first he was angered and flustered, and then was pleased with their announcement and request.

In a simple ceremony, witnessed by the shaman's sleepy pregnant wife, holding their latest fussy child, Pakku and Kanna, sixty years after the first engagement was refused, became husband and wife.

They strolled more slowly back to her – now their – dwelling. She snickered,  
"Won't Hakoda and the kids be surprised when they come home."

They both got a great laugh out of that.

As soon as they got back inside, they pulled the covers tightly over themselves. Surrounded by the closeness they felt in the darkness, in their hearts, all they saw in their minds were the 17 and 16 year olds they were so long ago, as they celebrated their long-lost love.

….

Life continued on a normal pace for Pakku and Kanna, and they settled well into the excitement of married life. Every day they lived to make up for lost time. The Southern Water Tribesmen admired their sweet late-in-life love affair, and young wives drew inspiration for the way Pakku doted on Kanna, and hoped their men would return safely and care for them and their children as well as he did for Kanna.

While children were out of the question for the pair, they assumed the role of every tribal child's 'grandparents', and drew great joy in that, helping every young mother with their children's care.

But one day a white tundra hawk, carrying a scroll, alighted on the entryway to their dwelling.

Pakku read the details gravely, and announced, "Kanna. I have to go. The White Lotus is assembling outside Ba Sing Se for the final battle to liberate the city from the Fire Nation."

"The White Lotus?" inquired Kanna.

Pakku explained, "We are a group of Masters of all bending and non bending disciplines dedicated to world peace. We've vowed to see an end to this madness of world domination and corrupt rule by the Fire Nation. I knew the time would come if the Avatar ever came back. He is ready. And so must we be."

She worried, "Who else will help you? It is madness to go against the Fire Nation as a tiny group of elderly men."

"The Avatar and his friends – and Katara – are joining us to defeat the Fire Lord. This is the time and place the spirits have willed. Hakoda and his forces are joining too. Many others will join them. We will be many. The Avatar rallied followers to his side."

She was relieved to hear that Hakoda was still alive, but worried, "Dear spirits, Pakku. Katara and Sokka and Hakoda all battling the Fire Lord? If anything would happen to them and to you…"

"It will end well. I feel it in my heart."

She believed Pakku but asked, "Protect them all, Pakku."

"I will do my best, Kanna," he promised.

Kanna smiled and asked, "And Pakku? Tell her about us. When you see her. Tell Hakoda too."

"Of course, Kanna," Pakku returned the smile.

They lingered in each other's arms, not wanting to let go, now that they really truly had each other. But just as Kanna knew that she couldn't hold Pakku back from realizing his destiny any more than she had let go of her granddaughter, she simply said, "Don't get lost again, Pakku. I love you. Come back to me. I want to die in your arms."

"I will return, I promise. I love you too."

Simultaneously they said goodbye, and kissed. Leaving, even knowing it was to be for just awhile this time, was the hardest thing they had ever done.

In contrast to that heartless goodbye so very long ago, each stood and watched – one from shore, and one from the deck of the ship - until they could see each other no more, each praying to the spirits that they would see each other again, and celebrate for the rest of their lives that love that had awakened between them.

...

They got that wish for a safe return, and were blessed to live well over a hundred years before they were separated briefly again, only to be happily rejoined forever in the spirit world.


End file.
